14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi scripted history in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 when he scored the fastest century of the tournament by an Indian. Suryavanshi smashed international bowlers for sixes and impressed many. On Under-19 tours, fans have flocked to the ground to see Suryavanshi in action. At times, he has delivered with his eccentric strokeplay, leaving the bowlers dumbfounded. Seeing the southpaw’s rise, Rajasthan Royals (RR) Director of High Performance, Zubin Bharucha believes that the young batter should be fast-tracked to the senior team like Sachin Tendulkar was in the late 1980s.
Bharucha believes that the selectors should test him on India A tours and he would have decimated the Australia A attack and scored a double century in the recently concluded One-Day series in Kanpur.
"He should be blooded into the senior team immediately, like Sachin was all those years ago," Bharucha told TOI.
"They have to blood this guy immediately, boss, because he is in another zone only. At least send him on an India A tour. Send him to India A immediately. I'm telling you, this Australian attack that is here, bowling to India A guys, he would have got a double hundred.”
When Suryavanshi left Archer strunned
Bharucha recalled how he was afraid for Suryavanshi when England pacer Jofra Archer bowled to him in the nets. But, the youngster left everyone stunned with a massive shot off the back foot.
"He smoked Jofra Archer in the nets. Jofra Archer, when he bowls in the nets, he's a demon. He never bowls a warm-up ball when the batter is there. He absolutely charges in. And actually, Jofra Archer knocked off Steve Smith's head in a practice session we had before the Ashes. Smith was struggling against him. From that day onwards, he never went inside the net when Jofra was bowling.
"When he was bowling to Vaibhav, I was scared, and this boy hit one shot on the back foot, and it went out of the stadium. All the coaching staff, even Jofra, were stunned," he said.
Suryavanshi in fine form on Australia tour
Suryavanshi scored a blazing half-century in one of the three youth ODI games against Aussie side. In the youth Test, he scored 113 off just 86 balls, featuring eight sixes. In the ongoing second Youth Test, he got out early for a 14-ball 20. It will be interesting to see how he fares in the second innings.